


The Thing in the Rear View Mirror

by FireEye



Category: Unavowed (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:35:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28255506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/pseuds/FireEye
Summary: Logan, KayKay, Vicki, and a stranger on the road.
Relationships: Logan Brown & KayKay, Logan Brown & Vicki Santina
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	The Thing in the Rear View Mirror

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Delphi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Delphi/gifts).



“I don’t know, KayKay. I really don’t.”

Vicki gave him a look in the rear-view mirror. Logan chuckled. “She wants to know if Resurrection Mary is real.”

“Yeah, well...” Vicki shrugged. “There are a lot of phantom hitchhikers out there, at least one of ‘em’s gotta be, right?”

“Can we at least go look when we get there?”

“Sure.”

Another few miles down the road, and Vicki hissed a brusque, “Damn.”

Logan looked up, catching sight of the man walking their way, thumb out and illuminated brightly by their headlights.

 _Speak of the devil_.

Hopefully not _literally_.

There were no cars ahead of them or behind them, nor had there been any coming from the other direction. Hadn’t been for an hour, since they passed the last truck colony. They were the only people on the road for miles. And whoever this poor guy was, he hitchhiking in the middle of absolute nowhere.

Vicki blew out a sigh, and hit her directional to pull off on the side of the road.

Logan saw the logic. It was the nice thing to do, and it wasn’t like they were in a hurry. The Chicago branch of the Unavowed was still going to be there when they got there, and so were the ghosts in need of a Bestower.

Rolling down the window, Vicki muttered and grumbled.

“Get on in,” she called. Under her breath, she asked Logan, “He’s _alive_ , right?”

“Seems to be.”

The invitation seemed unnecessary, as the man was hustling to catch up. He helped himself to the rear passengers seat, across the bench from Logan.

Logan didn’t think anything of it.

KayKay watched him with wide eyes from the front passenger’s seat. Her eyes narrowed, and she crouched – sort of – behind the seat.

“Thank you, _thank you_ ,” the man lauded their generosity.

“Not a problem, man,” Vicki told him, pulling back onto the road.

The middle of nowhere certainly had New York traffic beat on that front.

“You’d be amazed how often people just pass on by.”

In the light of the headlights, his suit had been a rich brown. Evidently well-tailored. He wasn’t covered in dust, and didn’t appear to be tired. He smiled broadly, nodding to Logan.

Maybe he shouldn’t have been staring.

They made it a fair distance in awkward silence. Even more so, Logan found, with KayKay uncharacteristically quiet.

He wished he could ask without spooking their passenger.

Vicki opted to break the ice.

“So you... uh... live around here or somethin’?”

“Nearer to here than to other places.”

“Huh,” she uttered.

That didn’t narrow it down.

“Man, there’s been nothing around for miles,” Logan said. There wasn’t, not even a farmhouse or two. “You must’ve been walking a long time.”

“I’m Vicki, by the way. This is Logan.”

“A pleasure to meet you.” The man nodded to Logan, “And you.”

Logan nodded back.

“And who’s the little miss up front? Don’t be shy, dear.”

KayKay ducked completely out of sight.

An alarm bell rang in the back of Logan’s mind.

“...you can see her?”

He flashed Logan a smile that had way too many teeth.

Logan pressed himself against the inside car door as every last instinct he had screamed _danger_. Vicki caught it in the mirror, loosened her gun from her holster, and fired three times, mostly-blind.

The rounds tore up the car seat.

And Logan’s eardrums.

The man was _gone_.

“What... the... _fuck_?”

They were still coasting down the road. By the look in her eyes, Logan and Vickie must have realized it at about the same time.

“Look out!” KayKay screamed.

“Vicki-...!”

“ _Fuck_.”

She saw the stranger in the road, just barely in time to swerve around him.

“ _Fuck_ the speed limit,” Vickie snarled.

She gunned it.

The stranger stood in the middle of the road, disappearing into the distance through their rear window as they sped down the straightaway.

***

They stood huddled together under the strangely comforting, flickering fluorescent light of a gas station. More comforting the fact that it wasn’t _much_ longer until dawn.

A couple of hours, give or take.

...he really would have thought they’d have been used to this by now, but _no_.

Vicki ran her fingers through her hair.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, sure _I’m_ okay – is she okay?”

KayKay was clinging to his leg. Staring off into the dark. She hadn’t let go of him since they’d stopped. At Vicki’s question, however, her head snapped up. “I’m _fine_.”

Logan chuckled.

“She’ll be okay.”

KayKay huffed indignantly.

“I’m _fine_ , Logan!”

“You okay?”

“I...” Logan took a deep breath, then nodded. “...think so, yeah.”

The attendant stared at them suspiciously through the window, as they loitered at the pumps. As though the two of them might start something. ... _or_ as though she were accustomed to living out in the middle of nowhere, and there was something out there in the dark. Maybe customers showing up out of it was unheard of.

“Signal’s still dead,” Vicki shoved her phone into a pocket. “I’m gonna go find a phone, see if I can’t get in touch with someone knows what the fuck just happened.”

Logan nodded after her, and wandered back to the car.

Through the car’s window, he noticed the torn up back seat.

Oh.

Yeah.

Split up.

Great plan.

“I think we should go with,” KayKay said, in a flat tone.

Reading his mind.

“Yeah,” Logan agreed.

He followed Vicki inside. She had found an old payphone in the back corner, which it seemed was still in operation. The clerk was watching her closely, but as soon as he entered, her attention was on him. He glanced over the selection of goods as he wandered – typical corner store fare – and grabbed a single serving bottle of juice out of the cold case.

Then he wandered over to the counter.

“Hi!”

The woman behind it blinked at him, as though his attempt at _I didn’t get eaten by some kind of ghoul tonight, at least not yet_ cheerfulness was off-putting.

“Um... you got any Snickers?”

“...should be right there under the counter?”

And so it was. 

“Right.” He grabbed two – one for Vicki – and his wallet. “Thanks!”

“Uh huh.”

“I don’t _think_ she’s a monster,” KayKay told Logan.

He chuckled.

Even if Vicki didn't find anything out, they at least had the sanctuary of a gas station convenience store until morning.

**Author's Note:**

> Please enjoy a creepy unsolved monster tale. :)


End file.
